Lahore (November 8, 2021): College of Tourism & Hotel Management (COTHM) and foodpanda signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create business opportunities for the Pakistani youth in the form of home chefs. Under the agreement, COTHM will provide Food panda with trained culinary arts graduates for its HomeChefs initiative. HomeChefs are essentially people operating out of their home kitchens who sell food through online platforms, such as food panda. After the MoU signed between both the companies, COTHM’s culinary arts students would have the option to register with foodpanda without any procedural hitches. Once the chefs are onboarded on the e-commerce platform, they will be further trained by the foodpanda team to operate commercially on the platform. Zaheer Ahmad, Chief Operating Officer COTHM, and Ahsan Malik, Head of foodpanda HomeChefs Division signed the agreement, while Ali Khalid, HomeChefs Head of Acquisitions, Abbas Rizvi, HomeChefs Manager Partnerships and Hospitality, and Fraaz Mahmud Kasuri, Editor Hospitality Plus, were also present at the signing ceremony.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, COTHM, COO Zaheer Ahmad stated, “I am pleased to partner with the largest e-commerce player in Pakistan and it gives me immense satisfaction to know that now our chefs will have a platform where they can kick start their food ventures with minimum resources. Through this division, Food panda is accelerating economic empowerment and enabling so many talented individuals to earn a respectable livelihood.” Foodpanda Head of Homechefs, Ahsan Malik, quoted at the event, “We are excited to have taken on-board COTHM as our strategic partner as it is one of the most prestigious culinary schools in Pakistan. foodpanda’s aim is to increase the HomeChefs base in the next two years and take it up to 100,000 registered home chefs. Our partnership with COTHM is in-line with this vision and will help us accelerate our efforts, economically empowering people in Pakistan.” Initially, the collaboration will be exercised in Lahore while, keeping in view the success of the partnership, it will be extended to other cities in Pakistan as well.